Hand-Built Outdoor Furniture: 20 Step-by-Step Projects Anyone Can Build

by Katie Jackson, Ellen Blackmar (Photographer)

Overview

Selected as a Gardens Illustrated Recommended Read

Hand-Built Outdoor Furniture covers twenty step-by-step, fully illustrated projects with hundreds of clear and easy-to-follow photographs. Finished pieces include simple items include a trellis, a flower box, and a plant stand and more complicated projects include a chaise lounge, a sectional with built-in storage, and a slat bench. Katie Jackson's projects are simple, clean, and timeless and work well within a wide variety of styles. Hand-Built Outdoor Furniture is the perfect primer for people new to woodworking, DIYers, and homeowners looking for a simple and affordable to decorate their space.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604697513
Publisher:	Timber Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/04/2016
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	264
File size:	71 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Katie Jacksonis a designer and builder of simple furniture using renewable and reclaimed materials. After graduating from Bennington College, she trained as a cabinetmaker at New England School or Architectural Woodworking. She attended a Woodworking Teacher’s Educational Program at Girls At Work, Inc., specializing in empowering at-risk girls with wood shop skills. Jackson headed the woodworking program at Camp Onaway for Girls for four summers, then teamed up with Lilah Crews-Pless to launch a design-build collaboration out of TechShop San Francisco and TechShop Menlow Park. She now builds at New England Society of Innovation and Technology (NESIT) Hackerspace. Learn more at katiejacksonwoodworks.com.
Ellen Blackmar is a professional photographer specializing in architectural, wedding, and protrait photography. She alsp creates personal work using large-format film and nine-teenth-centry-style cameras. She completed her undergradutate degree at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and has also atteneded programs a Thode Islande Shool of Deisng and The Center for Alternative Photopgraphy in New York. More of her work can be viewed at ellenrosephotgraphy.com.

Read an Excerpt

Preface
With a few basic tools and a weekend, you can build a beautiful piece of furniture out of wood for your outdoor space. In my experience, woodworking is mostly about problem solving. How can I make this more structurally stable? How should I correct this mistake? Everyone solves problems differently, and over the course of my woodworking career building furniture alongside other builders and teaching young woodworkers, I’ve enjoyed seeing a multitude of ways to cut a board or calculate a measurement.

In my woodworking classes, I provide an example of a project I’ve built, such as the flower box on page—a student favorite—and ask the students to figure out their own process to build it. The projects I provide have no specific measurements and no written instructions, but once they study the pieces, the students can easily see how they are constructed and re-create the projects to their own desired measurements and personal flourishes. My students often use interesting and innovative ways to get to the same end point. I learn a lot from them, and I often notice a trend: once given a basic understanding of how to use woodworking tools and machines, many of the younger students are thrilled to be given the chance to solve problems through their own creativity, while many of the older students, especially adults, request help every step of the way and keep asking what to do next.

Nonetheless, the intrepid younger students and the cautious older students, when given the same instruction on tool use and the same amount of time, all seem to produce the same caliber of high-quality woodworking. Perhaps this is because as we get older, we become more critical of ourselves. We may expect ourselves to be skilled in subjects we’ve never studied. We may be worried someone will see our work and criticize it, or that our work is not as good as someone else’s. That kind of worry can prevent us from ever starting or continuing to learn a new skill.

I encourage you to just begin. Getting away from glowing screens and doing something with your hands is a satisfying use of spare time. Even if your project ends up looking different from what you expected, you’ll have exercised your brain and body to create something all your own. We are all our own worst critic, but remember, your friends and family won’t see the dent in the board from dropping it on the floor; they’ll see a beautiful new piece of furniture that you made with your own hands. Take pride in your work, continue to be willing to learn new skills, and share your newfound skills with others. You’re continuing an ancient human tradition.

Editorial Reviews

05/16/2016
Furniture designer Jackson, who for four years headed the woodworking program at Camp Onaway in New Hampshire, opens new possibilities for those who want to create their own outdoor space according to their tastes and design sense. Step-by-step building guidance, coupled with more than 500 color photographs, enables serious craftspeople to create novelties such as a rolling coffee table, stair planters, and a gothic-arch chickadee house, to name only a few. Twenty projects are highlighted with detailed instructions to such precision as "put a small drop of glue into each screw hole." But be warned: these projects are a notch above the standard jury-rigging hit-or-miss style of many home crafters. The early chapters offer a thorough listing of all tools and accoutrements that will be needed for the various projects, including wood types, measuring tools, drilling tools, and different types of saws. Novice builders will be schooled in how to use a clamp, drill press, palm sander, and sanding block. The projects require a degree of skill, have a learning curve, will incur expenses, and will require functional workspace. If the reader is game, this creative offering will open up a fun world of outdoor project possibilities. Color photos. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

If you want to build your own outdoor furniture, but have zero to little woodworking experience, this books I for you.” —Library Journal

“For people already attuned to woodworking, this book has great project ideas. For people interested in picking up a woodworking hobby, this book gives the tools and basic knowledge to learn new skills. . . . a very satisfying do-it-yourself guide with tasteful and varied projects.” —Washington Gardener
 
“The craft of woodworking. . . . remains one of the most satisfying creative outlets. . . . Try your hand at it with Hand-Built Outdoor Furniture by Katie Jackson, who shows us that with a few basic tools and a weekend, anyone can build a beautiful wood project for their outdoor space.” —The Florida Times-Union

“Will inspire you to break out the miter saw, drill, and sander. With an appealing mix of contemporary and traditional-style projects.” —Digging

From the Publisher

04/01/2016
If you want to build your own outdoor furniture, but have zero to little woodworking experience, this book is for you. Furniture designer and first-time author Jackson strives to take the stress out of woodworking for beginners. At the start, the fundamentals of tool use, techniques, and material selection are finely detailed before jumping into 20 simple projects. Clearly organized with tools, a cutting list, and other materials needed, each project contains steps of construction that are illustrated, helpful, and encouraging. Many of these garden-related arrangements include containers, seating, and tables. Some standouts showcase a pretty bistro table, a modern slat bench, and an ingenious rolling coffee-table. However, many designs are very familiar and can be found in other outdoor furniture project books. VERDICT The strength of this work is the high level of instruction, which makes it perfect for beginners. Recommended for woodworkers who are new to the craft.

Library Journal